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Man the barricades — the English majors are coming!
Mayor Bloomberg suggested yesterday that riots could erupt here, just as they did overseas, if the nation doesn’t create more jobs for frustrated, out-of-work college grads.
“You have a lot of kids graduating college who can’t find jobs,” the mayor said on his weekly radio show. “That’s what happened in Cairo. That’s what happened in Madrid. You don’t want those kinds of riots here.”
Mayoral aides said afterward that Bloomberg’s remark wasn’t meant to be taken literally, noting that in 2009 he also predicted “riots in the streets” if Albany didn’t renew mayoral control of the schools — hardly an issue likely to drive the average New Yorker to start bonfires.
“Euphemism,” offered an aide in a one-word explanation of Bloomberg’s choice of words.
The mayor has been sounding the alarm bells for months over the stalemate in Washington in dealing with the troubled economy.
Although he didn’t flatly endorse President Obama’s latest $447 billion jobs plan, Bloomberg did give the president credit for trying to move forward.
“At least he’s got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not,” the mayor said in an indirect jab at Republican leaders who have hammered Obama’s proposal.
“And now everybody has got to sit down and say, ‘We’re actually going to do something.’ ”
Denouncing the partisanship in Washington has become something of a Bloomberg trademark.
The “riot” warning was simply the strongest language he’s used in criticizing both sides for failure to find common ground.
“They’re not willing to compromise,” Bloomberg charged. “And compromise — which some people maybe say is a bad word — that’s a euphemism for democracy. That’s exactly what democracy is. We all come together and nobody gets a whole loaf, but nobody gets squeezed out, either.”
But even politicians who shared the mayor’s sentiments were wary of connecting the nation’s unemployment rate, which hovers above 9 percent, with possible outbreaks of mayhem in the streets.
“I’m not going near that,” said an aide to one Democratic elected official.
A spokesman for Bloomberg LP, the mayor’s privately held media information company, said it doesn’t release hiring data. But a source confirmed an earlier report that the company planned to add 1,500 jobs this year in New York, including for new college graduates.
Coincidentally, a couple hours after Bloomberg’s radio appearance, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to promote Obama’s plan as a lifesaver for the city.
She declared it would create 70,000 jobs and reduce the unemployment rate here from 8.7 to 7 percent.
Like the mayor, she urged decisive action — though in more temperate tones.
“If you’re a working family struggling to make ends meet or a small business fighting for your survival, time is of the essence,” Velazquez said.
One former government official who deals with the administration suggested the mayor should follow Velazquez’s lead and measure his language more carefully.
“He has a great deal of difficulty in getting out what he really means,” the official said.